Karen Gomyo and her Stradivarius make magic at Schermerhorn

If you think you’ve had stressful experiences making your way through airport security, then imagine doing so with a priceless Stradivarius violin.

That’s what Karen Gomyo does on a weekly basis, as a 29-year-old violin virtuoso traveling the world to perform with orchestras from Hong Kong to Houston.

“When you’re seeing the violin pass through the security belt, that can also be a nerve-wracking moment,” she says. “If they think they see something inside, and they have to open the case, and say, ‘No, Ma’am, you can’t touch it.’ It’s not a very nice feeling. … The best solution is just to remain calm, smile, ask your questions very gently, and hope for the best.”

For now, Gomyo and her violin are safe and sound in Nashville, performing a three-night run with the Nashville Symphony at Schermerhorn Symphony Center that continues through Saturday as part of the Symphony’s classical series. Among the three pieces they’re performing is Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin, an often breathless 35-minute composition known as one of the more technically demanding pieces written for the instrument. Gomyo performs it from memory.

“I guess it’s sort of a showy type of piece,” she says. “The last movement is very fast and triumphant, and the orchestra also joins in playing all of these fast passages.”

Gomyo is partial to the concerto’s second movement, wherein the orchestra eases its pace for “this gorgeous little song with a very simple melody, but also very beautiful.”

“The difference between the sensation of (rehearsing) this piece with piano versus going through this piece with the whole orchestra, it’s really quite different,” she says. “You really feel a force from behind you.”

Rare instrument makes magic

Leading that charge, of course, is that “Ex Foulis” Stradivarius violin, built in the early 1700s, which Gomyo has on permanent loan from a private sponsor. She picked it out of six or seven “Strads” within the sponsor’s price range, and “realized very quickly that chemistry between player and instrument is really not to be taken for granted.”

“The more I played on it, I just felt that it had great potential. At first, it felt a bit shy. It felt like it had not been played on for a while. I just got the sense that it was being modest (laughs), but that it actually had a lot more to give.”

When asked about its monetary value, she responds, “Let’s just say that it can buy a few houses.” Its worth might not be obvious to a TSA agent, but Gomyo thinks concert audiences can tell the difference.

“The magic of a Stradivarius is really that when you step out into a hall,” she says. “For example, in my carpeted hotel room right now, if I were to play my Strad against a very good contemporary violin, my (Strad) might not strike you as being significantly better. … But then, when you go into a hall is really when the magic happens, at least I find. In acoustics like (the Schermerhorn’s), a Strad really comes alive in a way that is apparent to most listeners, I would say. They’d be able to draw a comparison between a Strad and a modern instrument and tell you which is which.”

Gomyo believes most listeners can draw a lot more out of classical music, too, provided they get the chance to hear and see it.

She credits her mother taking her to see the Montreal Symphony when she was 5 five years old as the moment that started her musical path, one that’s taken her to all corners of the globe.

“Music is so fascinating, and it is a universal language. I was just in Munich a week and a half ago, and I’m taking German lessons, but when I went there, I realized that I basically don’t speak German at all. But we start rehearsing and playing the music, and even if it’s just through gestures or through listening to each other (play), somehow we find a way to communicate.”